Saturday, 29 November 2014

Hello! My last deliveries to galleries were done this week. On Wednesday I took two Angels to Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury.

They greet you at the reception hall, at Sidney Cooper Gallery, 22-23 St Peter's St, Canterbury. Left one is a bit shy. He looks after animals and children. The right one with wings is still boyish. Sometimes he is bit naughty.

Angels - Sidney Cooper

As some of you knew, I am not good at driving and/or navigating, Mike drove me to Tunbridge Wells last Thursday. The Bluemoon Gallery is at 18 Camden Road, opposite to the Royal Victoria Place shopping centre.

Bluemoon Gallery

It is a lovely gallery in the middle of Tunbridge Wells.

The owner, Dominic with my works

The Angel is quiet, confident and big brother of all Angels.

Angel - Bluemoon Gallery

I made Crying Owl earlier this year, But I hadn't shown it until recently. It has strong presence and didn't look quite right next to my Angels and human figures in shows. It is about my friend, who was passing through a difficult time. The owl is the friend as well as myself. The owl's tears are blood.

Crying Owl - Bluemoon Gallery

Princess of Baklava's great-great-grandfather was a brother of one of the last Sultans of the Ottoman empire. He used to throw a party to all important people in the palace. His cook made the most delicious Baklava in the world. They had rose scent because he made a syrup from most beautifully scented yellow rose petals. They were harvested first in the morning before they unfurled, so that all scent remained inside. His guest enjoyed the treats so much. The reputation was wide spread in the Empire. Princess of Baklava's cook still makes baklava with rose syrup made from yellow rose petals.

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Last Saturday, Mike and I went to Brighton to deliver my work to Kellie Miller Arts gallery. The roads were clear luckily. It took us only 90 minutes to get to the city centre of Brighton. But from there our Satnav kept leading us to all roads with no entry! A big problem. As lots of readers live overseas, let me explain. Brighton is a medium sized resort city at the sea. The central area has a maze like foot paths and narrow roads. It is a nightmare to drive in there. And parking is very expensive for the size of the city. £4 per hour in the city centre during the weekend.

So we were so close to the gallery, about 5 minutes walk, but took longer than 30 minutes to get there by car! Mike was still recovering from the flu, and I was a bit under the weather, so when we got there, we were exhausted.

Kellie Miller Arts have Angels, Hope and Paper Crown.

Angels with wings

hope

Paper Crown didn't have a chance to have proper photos taken! But he looks as regale as ever in the box!

Paper crown

Kellie Miller Arts is having their first anniversary on Market Street. Kellie herself is ceramic artist. Her gallery has very interesting collection of ceramic arts. While we were there, lots of people popped in.

My work will be there until the end of the year. The gallery is also taking a part in the Christmas Artists Open Houses starting from the 29th and continuing until the 14th December. If you are going to be in Brighton over the coming weeks, do pop in! You won't be disappointed!

Lovely ceramic gallery

If you come to Brighton, you have to have cakes at the Julien Plumart boutique! Despite the difficulties, we were determined to park the car somewhere a bit cheaper. A mistake! We were stuck in congestion. The view from the car wasn't spectacular, neither.

Of course, only our was was congested!

In the end, we took longer than 30 minutes to park the car ( about 7 minutes on foot!) and finally reached the gourmet destination!

We had delicious lunch; mine, smoke salmon, Mile's, ham. Then we had cakes with Sri Lankan lemon grass tea! Bavarois of pistachio, (would you believe it?) Strawberry coulis and raspberry macaroon for the madame, and a hazel praline cake for the monsieur.

Of course, we bought a couple for the next day!

After this, we headed for Hastings. We knew that it would be too late for Jerwood, but I had heard there is a ceramic gallery. Satnav really doesn't work in Brighton! Now we were lead to a closed road. Somehow we got out, and then in congestion! It was supposed to be about one hour drive, but it took us nearly 90 minutes, by the time we arrived at Hastings, it was dark! The famous cliff was lit up.

Old town looks more attractive in the dark in some ways.

We found a gallery and then headed for coffee and another cake! We were again very tired! On the way back to a parking, we found this a half Totoro and a half owl!

We drove the land without street lights to go back to Canterbury. We were near Romney marsh and its landscape reminds me of the place Marsh-wiggles live!

We also had to climb up the hill and come down in the dark with a hairpin curve at the bottom. A couple of street lights would be nice!

We were exhausted when we got home and had an early night.

And here is the image for you who wondered what kind of cake we bought! :D Mine had Marsala wine in it! Heavenly! They will never disappoint me! ( yes, you guessed right. Mike always chooses rectangular ones! )

Friday, 21 November 2014

A week has passed so quickly. Poor Mike caught flu. He had terrible headache and fever. I almost caught it; I had muscle aches on shoulder and headache, but somehow got away. I haven't got time to be sick. There are so many thing to be done! My shop has been busy; I'm packing and posting everyday. I had jobs to finish on the sculptures I would take to Brighton tomorrow. I have just finished everything today.

Early this week these three angels were posted to the Cupola gallery, Sheffield. We had to make special boxes for them for safe delivery. Delicious exhibition at Cupola Gallery starts on Friday 28 November 7:30 pm.

This lovely reduction fired vase with ears found a lovely home in Devon. The gentleman who purchased it used to helping make glazes for well-known ceramic artists.

Vase with ears - Sold

And this mini-chicken is for his mother. How lovely! I still have a few mini-chickens in my shop, if you fancy a hen or two!

Mini-Chicken - sold

This greyhound went to a lovely lady in London. Because of thin glaze in tiny parts, I re-fired her. Then the kiln was over-fired, and most gold disappeared. So I asked her permission, and fired her again. It was all worth it. Don't you think?

Greyhound - sold

Both Angel Christmas/Greeting cards are out of stock now. They should be in stock by the end of the month. So if you are interested, please check my shop. £2.75 for each, £10 for 4, and £12 for six. They also look great in frames, of course!

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Hello! Christmas is coming! So early! You might say, but I have noticed signs. My shop is getting busier and busier. Post office has a longer and longer queue. Before I see the first Christmas tree, I can tell it is coming!

Today I will share some photos of the works that have gone to loving homes recently.

As soon as I tweeted this photo, the little Lamb in blue dress was snatched away. Cuteness alert! They are really sweet! The little rabbit in a red dress is still in my shop. She has a toy rabbit in her pocket!

These three Super Moon rabbits found homes, too. They are larger cousins of my ordinary Moon rabbits.

Medium size whippet went to a lovely home in London. There are still large bronze glaze whippets and greyhounds in my shop, if you are interested!

Water Boy flew to a lovely home in Canada. I will list his friends and Forest Girl soon.

Water Boy

Polar bear went to a lovely lady in US.

And this delightful pair of Surprised owls went to Scotland!

There will be more to leave for new homes soon. I have also posted my work to a gallery and will deliver more to another. So I'm spending my mornings packing and posting every day. It is the time of a year, Mr Tumnus.

Before the end, I would like to share lovely photos sent to me. Angel has arrived in NZ and met another Angel.

Saturday, 15 November 2014

This week has passed so quickly! I have done admin work and a bit of studio work. I have also listed lots of work on my shop!

The largest sitting up one and medium lying one (front on the right side) have found new homes in London very quickly. I don't often make medium/large ones, so this is a chance if you are interested in larger ones.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

I slept 21 hours in two days. The fair was fun, but it was tiring. I was probably not fully awake when I wrote the previous blog entry. I forgot to add photos of my stand. Here they are!

Front

Side view

This is the stand of the Prince's Trust. I am a fan of Prince Charles. He is not credited enough for all things he has done in my opinion! I donated one of Water Boys. A lovely Prince's Trust lady bought it, and came to chat with me at my stand! How wonderful!

There are very friendly artists around me. Tessa Pearson was opposite to me. The colours were so beautiful! I love her prints! She had lots of experience in art business. I called her the queen of art fairs!

Tessa Pearson

Tessa Pearson

We didn't take enough photos. There were more lovely talented artists around us, but there were rains now and then. It wasn't bright enough to take good photos.

Emerald gallery had lovely artists and they are so friendly! Tina Ashton was at the corner, and she sold lots of prints.

Emerald gallery at the back and Tina Ashton in front right

Then we saw Lea Goldberg again! We met her at Landmark art fair at Teddington. She is having a chocolate cake moment.

Lea Goldberg

As my stand was next to the exhibitors' door. (It was cold!) I made a friend with Fabian. I adopted him as my nephew. He and all other staff were very polite, friendly and professional.

Monday, 10 November 2014

Hello! I hope you had a good weekend. We had good one at Windsor contemporary art fair. As it was my second art fair, we were more prepared. Everything went smoothly.

When we came back from a hotel for PV Friday evening, there was a little red dot on a whippet on my stand. ??? Lovely Tessa Pearson, print maker and painter, reserved it for herself. How nice! Her beautiful stand was opposite to mine. I will write about her and other artists in the next entry. At PV loads of small sculptures were sold like pancakes! All wrens flew away quickly, little white rabbits hopped away, and whippets ran off to new loving homes! Monkeys found new loving homes, too. The rest including the anteater, were gone on Saturday.

As I knew they are popular, I took lots of them with me in special boxes I made, so that they could travel comfortably!

Blue and Brown Rabbit

On Sunday larger works found their new people. Blue and brown rabbit mask, one of my most artistic ones, and Duchess of Macaron went to a super young family. And the sweet Angel went to another super home! I have also a couple of leads to commissions. It was overall successful. Mike and I had a great time.

Duchess of Macaron

And of course, what makes the experience so special was people. A few people from Teddington came, and it was so lovely to see them again. I have also met a lovely Etsy customer. A lovely gentleman from Twitter came to say hello. And he adopted a bronze-gold whippet. How wonderful! Thank you so much for coming to the fair. It is such joy to meet people! It made our day!

Angels (Far left and the crown are available)

Another joy of art fairs is meeting artists. We were lucky to be surrounded by wonderful artists. They are friendly, supportive and talented! Mike and I had good chats with lots of artists, and had a great time. We hope to see them again sometime!

The art fair was well-organised and well-run. Staff were so friendly, polite and professional. I had a great joy to chat with them.

One pity thing was that we couldn't see Windsor castle. I was told we should be able to see it from anywhere in Windsor, but not the racecourse we were in. I had a glimpse of the top of the castle whilst driving. That was it! We think we will make a day trip one day. A local lady told me the Queen's doll house is a must to see. Looking forward to it!